is Sephora next?
Chic-but-hidden Celine is the first Union Square designer clothing retail casualty of the year. Celine’s cosmetic corporate cousin, Sephora, may be next. The Celine boutique located in the rear of the DFS Galleria in Union Square, closed this week after just a year in business. The store was moved there by its parent LVMH Moet Hennessey after a successful run at 216 Stockton St., but the move backfired. Celine fell victim to its poor visibility and the tourist drop-off that has many other Union Square retailers suffering. LVMH gave Celine the short end of its Union Square repositioning when it shoe-horned it into the DFS Galleria, along with Louis Vuitton. LVMH gave its other star name, Christian Dior, Celine’s old Stockton Street location late in 2000. Dior flourished; Celine perished. “It’s retailing 101, you can’t succeed in such an obscure location,” said Seth Nodelman, director of Cushman & Wakefield’s retail practice in San Francisco. “Celine had a nice store on Stockton but it w
